Eclipsemania: What you need to know

Welcome to the WHAT THE TRUCK?!? Newsletter. In this issue, eclipse warnings have some rattled, freight brokerage closures accelerate and more.

Black hole sun

Total eclipse of the heartland — On Monday, “A total solar eclipse will take place across the United States directly impacting 15 States and numerous metropolitan areas, including Dallas/Fort Worth, Little Rock, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Buffalo.”

According to the Department of Transportation, an estimated 32 million people are living within the path of totality, which will begin in Texas at 1:27 p.m. CDT and end in Maine at 3:35 p.m. EDT.

If you’re directly in the path of totality, you could experience up to 4 minutes and 27 seconds of darkness.

We just had an eclipse in 2017. Why’s there so much panic this year?

“It’s a conspiracy!” — Nobody freaked out about this seven years ago, but now we have reports of road shutdowns, confused animals, stock outages and Texas halting oversize loads. What’s the big deal?

The DOT says it’s “Building off the lessons learned from the 2017 eclipse.” According to NASA, not only will this eclipse last twice as long as the previous one, but the cornea blocking the sun will also be larger by 40-plus miles.

This in turn is driving a ton of traffic along that route you can see above. As we all learned during the pandemic, when you have a lot more people than usual buying up stock of anything, it can create shortages, whether that be toilet paper or fuel.

Plus, this is America. There’s money to be made in chaos.

Another reason? Not only did the reporting of the eclipse become a story, but the panic around that also got legs. What we’ve got is an information ouroboros.

What you need to know

Texas DOT

Truckers in Texas, be warned: 83 Texas counties have banned oversize loads from midnight to midnight on Monday.

If you’re anywhere in the pathway, note that congestion could be as much as four times more than usual rush-hour traffic, according to a spokesperson from the Texas Department of Transportation.

Mind the gap — Operation Lifesaver would also like to remind all eclipse peepers and truckers to be track-aware. Do not idle, park, stand on or treat train tracks as anything other than active during the eclipse.

Are you going to join the mob and watch the eclipse? Let me know.

Need some eclipse or space gear? Go here.

Freight brokerage closures accelerate

Kevin Hill

The bottom is deeper — The pandemic-era capacity glut that struck trucking also hit brokerages. According to new data from Brush Pass Research, in March, freight brokerage closures accelerated to 10.6%! So, why does the market feel so soft? Well, there are still 35% more freight brokerages now than there were five years ago despite two years of contraction.

77,000 smolts bolt

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

The great escape — Over 77,000 salmon escaped into Lookingglass Creek when a tanker truck toppled down an embankment in northeast Oregon. Only problem is that they were destined for the Imnaha River, which is 90 miles east. Even worse, according to NPR, “25,529 smolts died.”

The good news is that was not the worst place for the tanker to flounder. “We are thankful the ODFW employee driving the truck was not seriously injured, said Andrew Gibbs, ODFW fish hatchery coordinator for eastern Oregon. “This should not impact our ability to collect future brood stock or maintain full production goals in the future.”

The rest of the noise

Drop in Class 8 truck orders in March looks big but analysts aren’t worried (FreightWaves)
FMC fears glut of container fee disputes after Baltimore bridge collapse (FreightWaves)
Trans-Pacific container rates plunge again (FreightWaves)

70-year-old California trucking company, freight brokerage closes abruptly (FreightWaves)

WTT Friday

Eclipsemania; rebuilding Baltimore; supply chain education — This Friday on WHAT THE TRUCK?!?, I’m talking to Operation Livesaver’s Jennifer DeAngelis about eclipse readiness, being track-aware and freight disruptions.

Dredging Contractors of America’s William Doyle talks about the recovery and rebuilding surrounding the Key Bridge in Baltimore. How long will it take, what needs to be done and what role does dredging play in rebuilding this key connector in Charm City.

Calvin University stops by to show off its supply chain program. We’ll learn all about what is offered at the university and how students are getting hands-on experience with major shippers while there.

Kinaxis’ Polly Mitchell-Guthrie lays out supply chain impacts from the Key Bridge collapse and highlights disruptions in auto and retail.

Plus, latest news, weirdness and trends.

Catch new shows live at noon EST Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on FreightWaves LinkedIn, Facebook, X or YouTube or on demand by looking up WHAT THE TRUCK?!? on your favorite podcast player. And at 5 p.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Road Dog Trucking Channel 146.

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